This invention relates to golf clubs and more specifically to adjustable golf clubs in which the loft of the club face may be varied.
This invention relates to golf clubs and more particularly to golf clubs having an adjustable head.
A full set of golf clubs normally includes between eight and eleven iron clubs, two or more woods and a putter. The iron clubs are numbered 1-9 and in addition there may be a number of wedges of varying lofts. The loft angle of the clubs, that is the angle between the club face and the vertical when the player is addressing the ball, increases in increments of about three to four degrees from the one iron up through the nine iron and the wedges. This causes the trajectory of the ball to increase in height and decrease in distance as more lofted clubs are used so that the player may hit shots of varying length with substantially the same swing.
In order to reduce the number and hence the weight of the clubs required to provide the full range of loft angles, adjustable clubs have been developed. Two such prior art clubs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,840,231 and 3,791,647. These prior art adjustable golf clubs generally include a single iron head which may be adjusted from relatively small to a relatively large loft angle. The various angles are established by meshing teeth on the club head and shaft end. This requires that the club head be disengaged from the shaft to change the loft angles and then the two must be reengaged. As a result, changing the loft angle on such prior art clubs was cumbersome and in some cases required the use of a tool. One prior art adjustable golf club that addresses these problems is shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,337. However, even this adjustable club utilized multiple parts making it more expensive and difficult to manufacture. The numerous parts and their location also added to the weight and appearance of the club so that it did not have the look and feel of a conventional golf club.
It is an object of the invention to provide a new and improved adjustable golf club.
A further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable golf club in which the loft angle of the head can be conveniently adjusted with a minimum of effort and without tools.
To this end, the adjustable golf club of the invention utilizes a golf club having normal address position when the user addresses the club. The golf club includes a shaft, a club head mounted on the lower end of the shaft with the club head including a hosel, a heel portion and a blade portion.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the blade portion is connected to the heel portion for limited pivotal movement about an axis which is generally horizontal when the club is in the addressed position.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, the golf club is provided with latching means that utilizes a lever pivotally mounted on the heel and movable between a first position in which the lever is substantially parallel to the shaft and in which the heel portion and blade portion are rigidly coupled and a second position in which the lever is rotated away from the shaft and in which the blade portion is disengaged from the hosel portion allowing limited rotational movement of the blade relative to the heel.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, the golf club is provided with a linkage mechanism that utilizes a stud disposed within a cavity of the heel portion and extend horizontally from the heel portion into a cavity in the back of the blade portion.
In accordance with still yet another aspect of the invention, a pin is operably connected to the lever and stud and movable in cooperation with the lever from a first position in which the heel portion and blade portion are rigidly coupled and a second position in which the blade portion is disengaged from the heel portion to allow limited rotational movement of the blade relative to the heel.
In accordance with still another aspect of the invention, the golf club is provided with a biasing means disposed within the cavity in the heel portion to urge disengagement of the blade portion from the heel portion.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description thereof taken with the accompanying drawings.